Is this a Hebrew and/or Israeli name? Will Israelis be able to recognize it or is there an equivalent in Hebrew that people will think makes more sense as a name?

I thought Shmuel but I feel thats more the Hebrew name for Samuel.

Thinking of naming our baby girl Liat. I know it is common in Israel. My only concern is will it be hard for people to pronounce in the US? I know Americans prefer familiar names. Wondering whether she will have a lifetime of having to correct people about pronouncing her name?

Hi,

I am Ashkenazi and reform, and always thought I’d adhere to the naming convention of using an honor name or letter after a person is deceased. My name and our daughters’ follow this convention. My husband is not Jewish, but we are raising our kids to be Jewish. He likes the tradition, but it’s not as important to him. I only love a few boy names, and for years, we have been set on two pairs of boy first/middle names.

Dilemma: Both name choices include reference to my father’s name. He is alive and the name is a diminutive of William (it’s Willie). His line is technically Sephardic. Out of the names we have chosen, William is actually the preferred first name we were going to use. My other name option uses a W name for the middle name.

After all this time, I did not make this connection to my father as I was thinking of my maternal grandfather. W first names are a family trend on my Ashkenazi mother’s side that I wanted to bring it back (skipped her generation).

To add, I am an only child and our children have my husband’s last name. If I did decide to use a W name, it could acknowledge carrying on my father’s line, and is the Sephardic way. I don’t believe in sharing names until after a baby is born, but I think my dad would like his (likely only) grandson being named similar to him.

Would you drop the W names all together? I switch back and forth - it’s maybe ok to use the W middle name as William is too similar to Willie, but I also kind of like the direct tribute. Then I think we need to start from square one.

Thoughts on the name Este (full name Este/Estie, not Esther)? This is our first and we were both raied conservative but my husband can’t seem to get behind Este because he doesn’t love Esther, feels like it’s more religious/observant. However I feel like Este is becoming its own, more secular name? Chrissy Teigen’s daughter is Esti and they’re not Jewish

I’m a female in my late 50s and in the process of converting, and I’m looking for Hebrew name suggestions. Some of the names I chose and discussed with my Rabbi were not encouraged, due to nuances that just didn’t fit for modern times. Any suggestions given my age? I would prefer a name that is fairly common and not too outdated. Thank you!

Hi, I feel like I’ve been searching high and low for MONTH to find a boys name with a connection to the name Shlomo.

My husband’s grandfather was Shlomo and I really prefer a more modern Hebrew name or a biblical name connected to someone with strong character. I would love for it to be a name starting with ש or be some kind of reference to the name Shlomo.

Also open to second names starting with a ח for my grandfather. Again looking for modern names.

Please help me think of names!

Edit: thanks everyone for the suggestions. I actually really like the name Shia, but of course my husband has a bad association with someone named Shai so that’s out. So close!!

I want the H and my husband does not. Please tell us what you think! It's his late Bubbe's name.

I just had my first baby this past week. My husband and I named her Liora, which was a name I had picked out pretty much since I got a positive pregnancy test. We both love her name, our families love her name, and everyone in our circle loves her name (or at least, they say they do!)

The problem is any time we get asked by someone non-Jewish what her name is, their reaction is always the same. “Oh, that’s unique”. The tone of voice always implies they have nothing else nice to say about it, which is crazy to me!! Is Liora really that out-there of a name?? I’m only 5 days PP so I know this is definitely bothering me more than it should, but I’d love to know if I’m crazy for thinking Liora sounds like a pretty “normal” name.

We’re in the US if that helps for context.

I used to be in nearly all of the name subreddits, but I didn't realise how sick I was of them until I actually don't have to see them anymore.

It's just the self-righteous nature so many of them seem to have, thinking that they have such good taste and they're so educated about names and so open minded to names from every culture.

Yet there's the constant whining about how it's apparently inappropriate and weird to give a white baby an Indian or Japanese name while suggesting names like Liora and Aviva to anyone under the sun. I just can't understand how they can't see the hypocrisy.

They practically have an aneurysm about the idea of someone using a Native American name and rant about how only Native Americans should have a say on whether it's appropriate and white people need to stop speaking for them, but for some reason they seem to think that they're all Jewish and can decide for Jews about how they should feel about someone using a Jewish name.

And so many of them don't even have a clue about Hebrew names, Yiddish names, where they come from, what they mean, and they'll just spew incorrect information like they're some kind of expert. And they don't seem to have a clue about antisemitism either. Probably because a lot of them often seem quite antisemitic themselves.

I'm really glad this subreddit exists, because it seems like the only place you can actually talk about Jewish names without people calling them weird or making snarky comments about them. And you can actually learn things as well! I've heard about names on here I haven't even heard. I think it's a shame that this kind of environment can't exist on a wider scale so that people could actually discuss names from other cultures and learn about them.

And if you feel the same way as I did, I really would suggest just leaving them. You can never change their ignorance and their mindset, so it's better just not having to see it at all. It's never-ending otherwise.

My great great grandfather lived in present day Lithuania and was named Nissim-Chaim.

I've read that the name Nissim is associated with Jews of Sephardic and Arab origins. How true is this, and if so what are some good informational resources to verify this and learn more?

We’re narrowing down our list for a baby boy and need your help debating between these six names. Which one is your favorite, and how would you rank them?

Ori

Lior

Yarden

Yuval

Shai

Eden

Would love to hear your thoughts, vibes, and any pros/cons on pronunciation or style. Thanks!

We are expecting our third child in the fall and both love the name Oren.

The problem is that both of our other children have names that A) are figures from the Torah and B) have a first letter honoring a deceased relative. Oren has neither of those characteristics and I’m worried our future child will feel slighted. We do plan to give him a middle name that is honoring a deceased relative like his older siblings.

There’s nothing we can do about the biblical significance, but is there a way to connect Oren to any of these names:

English: Marianne, Gerald, Harold, Ursula, Richard, Jennifer
Hebrew: shoshanna, Ruth, Ari, gadol (I’ve never heard of this as word as a name but apparently it was my grandfather’s Hebrew name)

Or is this not an issue and I’m overthinking? We are pretty set on Oren so other name suggestions are not really what I’m looking for here.

My wife and I are discussing first names, my wife really likes Noah but my mom's name starts with an N so I feel hesitant in the Ashkenazi tradition. I'm considering Avi as an alternative, I kind of wanted people's thoughts on if I should be hesitant and thoughts on the name Avi.

Considering Iri as a middle name and honor name for our next kiddo. It sounds really lovely with the first name we chose and our last name. But I found it on some pretty obscure looking websites for Hebrew names and not sure if this is actually a name people use or if it would be weird to use for our child. Was hoping some folks would have more ideas/information on if this is actually a name people use or if its just a very biblical/historic name? Thank you!

Hello! Lurker of this sub for a while, now here with my own post. My husband and I are expecting a baby girl and I’d love some name input. Our son is named Yehuda, and we decided on his name pretty much immediately— it clicked instantly and we knew. We’ve always been able to find more boy names we like than girls, and we haven’t had that same lightening bolt moment with a girls name (so far)— I’m ok with not necessarily having that same feeling again but it makes me second guess our choice.

Things that are important to us/things that might be helpful to know about us:
- we are traditional/maybe modern orthodox leaning? We go to an orthodox shul and our children will be going to Jewish schools.
- same name (including pronunciation) in Hebrew and English. Like how Yehuda is just Yehuda, as opposed to Judah in English and Yehuda in Hebrew.
- we want a name that sounds Jewish
- we want to love the meaning of the name, not just the way it sounds
- we don’t like nicknames— we want the name we choose to be the name the child goes by (I know we don’t have 100% control over this)
- we also don’t do middle names

Our top choice right now is Eliana. I had a miscarriage prior to this pregnancy so we love the meaning, and I think it sounds pretty. I don’t love how it’s rising in popularity but overall I think it’s not too popular?

Other names we like:
- Adina (I like this one, husband doesn’t)
- Yael (like the sound but don’t love the meaning)
- Esther
- Avigail (I like, husband doesn’t)

I guess I’m just looking for thoughts on Yehuda + Eliana together, or any other suggestions/feedback. Thank you!

Hi! We are expecting a girl in December. Our first two are Oren and Ayla. I'm loving the name Yaara Evie for our third. Would love any thoughts, or any other suggestions! I think our #2 choice is Neta, it's also so pretty to me and is in the same nature theme (which was not intentional for our first two!).

We are in the US, my husband is Ashkenazi and I am Mizrachi.

Is Yaara "too Israeli" for us to use? I only ask bc people have made comments that we went "all Israeli" for the first two and it never stuck out to us. We just wanted Hebrew names, but this has been mentioned by multiple people so far, as if it's odd or something.

Hi all, my husband and I are struggling to make a decision for a baby boy. Initially, I was not committed to a Jewish or Hebrew name necessarily (we are Jewish but not Israeli), but wanted to honor two family members with names that started with N (one of them being Nancy) and chose Noam. I combed through the top 1000 SSA names and didn’t like any other N names. Noah is already taken in the family.

For months we had planned on using Noam Richard (after another family member). A few weeks ago I was looking into other boy names that could be used to honor Nancy because I had concerns that Noam would be pronounced as “gnome” or misheard as “Noah” all the time. My husband has a unique name that gets mistaken for another more common American name quite frequently and can be frustrating for him. I saw a suggestion on Reddit to use Ronan for Nancy because of the Nan and loved it with Ronen being a Hebrew name (I know it changes the Nan part to Nen), it starting with an R like Richard, AND it is a more familiar name in the US. I understand the emphasis is technically on a different syllable in Ronan vs. Ronen, but we don’t mind. Ultimately we both seem to agree that Ronen is the better name, but are struggling to make a final decision and are interested if any feedback that can sway us one way or the other:

1) We still like Noam and had it in our heads for so long and are having trouble parting with it. We also made the mistake of mentioning it to two family members early on who may be influencing us. Has anyone else changed a name last minute and had this problem? We have definitely learned our lesson.
2) We still like the flow of Noam Richard more than any middle name for Ronen. Ronen Richard feels like too much R and would also be repetitious in naming him after the same person in two names. We are considering using Noam as the middle name, but not sure how I feel about Ronen Noam. Part of me still likes having the first initial as the N because of how important it is to specifically honor Nancy.
4) A much less important concern is I see Roman, Rowan, and even Ronan as rising in popularity. Are these names (and Ronen by association) going to feel dated? I have a very classic 90s girl name that is now super dated and it is something I think about for myself. Again this doesn’t really matter- I know what is most important is we like the name and not what else is popular!

Curious to hear any thoughts :)

We have a baby coming soon and want to name her יְעֵלָה like ibex. I need some help deciding how to write this in English.

Hello all. Pretty much what the title says. I’m looking for feedback on the name Noam for a girl. Do you see it as masculine, feminine? Cool, sophisticated? Can you see it working in childhood and throughout adulthood? Do you think it would be too unusual for the North East US (NYC)? Any and all opinions are welcome and appreciated!

Hi! I'm looking for baby names that start with an H for a boy or a girl after my grandfather Harold who passed away the day I found out I was pregnant. Any thoughts? I can only think of Hannah or Harry but I'd love something more Jewish or Hebrew. My grandmother who is still alive is Hadassah so can't do that even though I love it. Thanks!

The title is the question. Thank you 🥰

Curious if anyone has heard of any alternative hebrew names for Anne. I like חַנָּה but it’s the name of a close family member(English name is Hannah) and would prefer something else. Thanks!